


More Things In Heaven And Earth

by VelveteenThestral



Series: Home Is The Sailor [3]
Category: Hornblower (TV)
Genre: Epistolary, Gen, Ghosts, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-10-25
Updated: 2011-10-25
Packaged: 2017-10-24 22:50:01
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 769
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/268765
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/VelveteenThestral/pseuds/VelveteenThestral
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>After his court-martial in Kingston, Horatio writes a letter to Archie's family.</p>
            </blockquote>





	More Things In Heaven And Earth

> H.M. Sloop Retribution  
> off Kingston
> 
>  
> 
> Dear Sir:
> 
> By the time this reaches you, you will already have received the official letter informing you of your nephew Archibald’s death, of wounds honourably received in battle on board HMS Renown, under the acting command of Lieutenant Buckland.

Horatio paused, going over the phrasing again. No, it had to be this way; he could not be sure that Mr. Buckland had remembered his duty and written the letter himself, nor could he be sure who would have written the letter if Mr. Buckland had proved lax. Still, a letter there must have been; of that he was certain, just as certain as he was of the necessity of this one. He picked up his pen again.

> News may also have reached you of Mr. Kennedy’s confession, in front of a sitting court-martial, to the mutinous act of pushing his commanding officer, Capt.James Sawyer, down an open hatch and into the hold. While he did indeed confess this, I write to you to assure you that it was not so.
> 
> I was present when the Captain fell, and it was just that: a fall. He struck his head, and afterwards became disordered in his wits, conceiving a suspicion of the officers who were there to witness it. He confided his suspicions to the acting-gunner, Mr. Hobbs, who became persuaded that he had discovered the identity of the criminal, though no such man existed.
> 
> Knowing that Mr. Hobbs was prepared to testify to this, and knowing his own wounds to be mortal, your nephew committed the bravest, most generous act I have ever had the honour to witness: he appeared before the admirals and swore to his own guilt, bringing unwarranted disgrace upon himself and preserving his brother-officers from the scaffold, an act for which I am forever in his debt.
> 
> I write to you to assure you of his innocence, whatever the official record may show, and to beg that if there is ever any service which I might perform for you, that you not hesitate to ask, that I might repay in some small part the kindness show to me by the man I will forever consider my dearest and truest friend.
> 
> I remain,  
> your most humble and ob’d’t servant,
> 
> Horatio Hornblower  
> Acting-Commander, R.N., H.M. Sloop Retribution

A hand fell on his shoulder. “That’s quite a letter, Horatio,” he heard in a familiar voice.

“Archie? Is that you? But how...” He stood from his chair, turning around, to see his friend in the cabin, whole and unwounded, smiling at him.

“There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio, than are dreamt of in your philosophy,” Archie said, just as he might have in life.

Horatio felt his face crumple. In the past three days, he had often felt as if he would go mad from grief, and here was proof of it, finally; yet he could not bear to dismiss this vision of his friend. He held out his arms.

“Shh, shh, Horatio, my dearest friend,” Archie said, embracing him. “You gave me the best years of my life. I don’t regret a thing.”

Horatio wept, burying his head in Archie’s shoulder, giving way to the sobs he had not allowed himself until now. “I did not -- I do not deserve what you did for me, Archie,” he said. “I could never be worthy of it.”

“I did not do it for you to hate yourself for it,” Archie said, stroking his friend’s hair. “Horatio, please accept what I’ve given you and be happy. Live for both of us. Or just imagine we have those years over and over again.”

Horatio clung to Archie, taking comfort in his presence as he had not been able to in his memory. “If you’re a ghost -- and ghost you must be, tangible though you are -- promise me you’ll never stop haunting me?”

Archie kissed Horatio’s forehead. “I will always, always be with you,” he said. Horatio stood in his friend’s embrace, profound relief welling within him. As he felt himself return to calmness, a thought occurred to him.

“Am I being terribly selfish?”

“How so?”

“Keeping you from heaven,” Horatio said.

Archie only smiled. “It wasn’t much of a heaven without you.” Horatio felt his eyes well up again, this time from gratitude rather than grief. Archie held him tightly and kissed him softly. “Oh, Horatio,” he murmured. They stood like that some while longer, until Horatio regained his composure. “Now, dry your eyes, seal that letter, and get yourself back on deck,” Archie directed. “There’s work to be done.”

**Author's Note:**

> Belongs in the same continuity as eternaleponine's The Laws of God and Man. Stands independently of it. I can't quite reconcile myself to a Live Kennedy Universe, so this is the best we could do. I owe a great debt to Patrick O'Brian; I had a copy of Master and Commander open on my desk while I was doing this, to get the style of the letter correct.


End file.
